March

Lawyers Journal

News from the Courts

Extended hours pilot at the Brooke
Courthouse

The Massachusetts Trial Court has announced the commencement of
a pilot program extending the hours in three court departments
operating sessions at the Brooke Courthouse in Boston.

This program is designed to assess, over a period of time, the
usefulness of extended court hours as a convenience for certain
segments of the public. Effective Feb. 26, the Boston Municipal
Court, Housing Court and Probate and Family Court departments began
conducting certain limited court sessions on two Tuesdays each
month until 7 p.m. In addition to Feb. 26, the dates for the first
several months are March 12, March 26, April 9 and April 23.

The purpose of this pilot is to make the court available to
members of the public during late afternoon and early evening
hours. The sessions will be limited to specifically-designated case
types. All matters will be pre-scheduled and/or by agreement of the
parties.

The Clerks' Offices and Registry of Probate will not be open to
the public during the extended hours. Those offices will staff the
sessions, as needed. Emergency matters occurring weekday evenings
from 4:30 p.m. to the opening of court at 8:30 a.m., or on weekends
or holidays will continue to be processed through the Judicial
Response System as accessed through the local police
departments.

Information regarding the types of matters that will be
available for this pilot, their scheduling and courtroom locations
will be posted to www.Mass.Gov/Courts by court department, or the
courts can be reached as follows:

Boston Municipal Court: (617) 788-8600

Boston Housing Court: (617) 788-8485

Suffolk Probate and Family Court: (617) 788-8300

Interimchief justice of the District
Court appointed

Chief Justice of the Trial Court Robert A. Mulligan has
announced the appointment of Hon. Paul F. LoConto as interim chief
justice of the district court, in accordance with G.L. c.211B, §7.
LoConto will succeed Chief Justice Lynda M. Connolly, who will
retire on March 1, 2013. Mulligan, who will reach the mandatory
retirement age in July of this year, recently stated that his
successor will appoint the Chief Justice of the District Court to
the full five-year term.

LoConto has been a regional administrative judge of the district
court department since 1999. He also has served as first justice of
the Worcester District Court since 2004. Prior to that, he was
first justice of the Fitchburg District Court for five years and
first justice of the East Brookfield District Court for 10 years.
He also served as presiding justice of the Appellate Division of
the District Court in the western region from 1989 to 2011. He was
first appointed to the District Court Department in 1985.
Previously, he served as clerk magistrate of the East Brookfield
District Court for 10 years, following his career as an attorney in
private practice.

Probate and Family Court announces release of a
procedural advisory and updated trust forms

Chief Justice Paula M. Carey of the Probate and Family Court has
announced the release of a procedural advisory on trust matters, as
well as new and revised trust forms. The procedural advisory
highlights procedural and form changes as a result of the adoption
of the Massachusetts Uniform Trust Code. The MUTC was enacted as
part of Chapter 140 of the Acts of 2012. Chapter 140 amended
various sections of G. L. c. 190B, the Massachusetts Uniform
Probate Code and incorporated the MUTC as Chapter 203E of the
General Laws.

The procedural advisory and trust forms were developed over the
last several months by the MUPC Procedures Committee and the MUPC
Forms Committee. Both committees are comprised of Probate and
Family Court judges, court staff and members of the bar.

Proposed amendments to Rule 412 of the supplemental
rules of the Probate and Family Court

Chief Justice Paula M. Carey, along with the Probate and Family
Court Bench/Bar Committee on Rules, solicits comments on proposed
amendments to Rule 412 of the supplemental rules of the Probate and
Family Court.

The proposed changes to Rule 412, Joint Petition for
Modification of Child Support Judgment, would expand the rule to
allow parties to modify any judgment or temporary order of the
Probate and Family Court where the parties are in agreement, the
agreement is in writing and all other requirements of the rule are
met.

The SSWA Task Force has filed a progress report outlining steps
taken to implement the provision of the Massachusetts Victim Bill
of Rights. The report outlines the results of the court-by-court
assessments through January 2013.

Regulations of the jury commissioner

The Supreme Judicial Court has approved amended Regulation 9 and
new Regulation 10 of the Regulations of the Jury Commissioner,
effective March 1, 2013.

Changes approved to SJC Rule 4:02

The Supreme Judicial Court has approved changes to the Rule 4:02
of the Rules of the Supreme Judicial Court effective March 1,
2013.